Recent Blog Posts
Blogs ยป Archive for May 2nd, 2004
Open Source Programmer’s Editor
I recently received an email recommending I take a look at JEdit based on my coverage and recent commentary on open source at SitePoint. What a great tip that was!
I downloaded JEdit for my production machine (OS X notebook) and was pleasantly suprised with several features. I work on projects involving html/xhtml, Java, PHP and XML among others, and the syntax support is excellent (supports 90 file types). I have been hooked on BBEdit for years, however, JEdit may just knock that to the side.
Some features that jumped right out at me:
*Support for executing JavaDoc while in the JEdit interface and continuing to work on source code
*Ability to create Jar files within JEdit and also compile source files and packages
*XML plug-ins for validating xml against DTD’s and transforming xml files via XSLT
*Ability to connect and query SQL servers within the JEdit interface
*The ability to browse and edit files via FTP on a remote server
Built on Java 2, the editor works on Linux and variants, OS X and Windows. It utilizes the Java 1.4 platform and for those daredevils already running the Java 1.5 beta, it supports you too!
Crazy CSS
There’s a long tradition in the CSS community of pushing CSS to its limits to discover new tricks. These experiments are inherently valuable, as no matter how bizzare or useless they may seem they help improve people’s understanding of exactly how CSS works. Case in point: Chris Hester’s CSS Pencils, where CSS and a lot of div elements are used to display an image that looks for all intents and purposes like a standard gif, jpeg or PNG. A styleswitcher can be used to change the image. This technique has precisely no advantages over normal images, and comes with a hefty additional bandwidth overhead. However, it still demonstrates some interesting points about CSS, which Chris expands upon in his explanation of the demo.
While we’re on the subject of weird CSS tricks, Border Slants is something every CSS user can benefit from understanding. It’s the trick behind the impressive Sweet Heart demo, and the driving force behind Tantek’s awe inspiring hexagonal site map (doesn’t work in IE/Windows, but does work in pretty much every other modern browser). Chris Hester’s CSS House also makes extensive use of this technique.